Placket-fastener.



No. 703,750. 4 Patonted luly I,'|902./

N. H. TAYLOR & W. C. ATWATER.

PLACKET FASTENEE.'

'Application led Nov. 8, 1899.)

FISI).

Flll.

WTNESSES [N VEN TOR ilNiTnn STATES PATENT OFFICE.

NELSON R. TAYLOR AND WILLIAM C. ATWATER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

PLAoKET-FASTENER.

SPECIFICATION-forming part of Letters Patent No. 703,750, dated July l, 1902.

Application filed November 8I 1899. vSerial No. 736,242. (No model.)

To a/ZZ whom, t pta/y concern.-

Be it known that we, NELSON R. TAYLOR and WILLIAM C. ATWATER, citizens of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Placket-Fasteners, of which the following is a specication.

Our invention relates to devices for closing the placket-openings in ladies skirts and other similar articles of wearing-apparel; and it has for its object to provide a device of the character stated which shall combine in a desirable and convenientform the elements of simplicity, practicability, easeA of' Vm anipulation, and cheapness of manufacture.

To this end our improved fastener consists in its essential features of two thin flat strips of elastic material adapted to be sewed upon or into or otherwise secured to the two sides of the placket or other opening and provided on their opposite ends with oppositely-extending interlocking tongues, which tongues on each strip are preferably cut and raised from the body of the strip itself and are adapted to interlock with the tongues of the other stripv in a manner to secure the two strips snugly together in parallel overlapping relation, as

hereinafter described, whereby they may bev readily secured together or separated by the simple operation of flexing one of the strips over the other and locking it thereto and unlocking it therefrom at its ends.

Our invention further consists in an additional detail of construction whereby the separation or unlocking of said strips is facilitated, as hereinafter described and claimed.

Our invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figures l and 2 are details in perspective of the two thin flat elastic strips and their interlocking tongues, which cooperate to form our improved fastener. Fig. 3 is a central longitudinal section ofthe two members of the fastener in interlocked relation, their meeting faces and Yends being shown as covered by a flat braid or other textile covering.,

Fig. et is a cross-section, enlarged, on line Qc :n

of Fig. 3 looking in the direction indicated broken away, of a skirt with the placket open and showing the relative locations of the parts of our improved fastener.

Similar letters of reference refer to similar parts throughout the yseveral views. Y Referring to the drawings, A and B represent the two separate members of our device, which, in the essential features of their construction, are thin flat elongated strips of some iiexible or elastic substance, preferably sheet-steel. Each strip is provided with a series of small holes a, formed therethrough, whereby it may be readily sewed into or upon a garment to which the device is to be applied'and whereby also when it isdesired to cover the face of the strip by a braid or other ytextilecovering, as C, the latter may be secured thereto, as by eyelets Z), Figs. 3 and 4. On the strip A, at each end thereof, is a tongue c, which at its base lies in the plane of the strip and extends outwardly and downwardly (relatively to the face of the strip when in operative interlocking position) at an acute angle to the plane of the strip and which is .preferably formed by being cut and raised from the material of the strip itself.` On the ends of strip B are similar and corresponding tongues d, which are formed in the same way as the tongues c on strip A, except that they extend inwardly and upwardly instead of outwardly and downwardly.

At about the center of the outer edge of each strip the metal body of the strip is struck up for about a half-inch, as indicated at e, to facilitate the introduction of the thumbs between the strips when the same are to be unlocked.

In the application and use of our improved fastener the members A and B, formed as hereinabove described, are sewed upon or into or otherwise secu red to the overlapping edges D D', respectively, of the placket, as shown in Fig. 5. In bringing the parts together, so as to effect the closing of the placket, one of the tongues c (preferably the -lower)'on.strip A is slipped under the correspondingtongue d on strip B. The flexible strip A is then bent by the thumb and fingers until it assumes a curved position sufficient to allow the outer edge of the other tongue c to pass by and beneath the outer edge of the corresponding tongue d, when by allowing the strip A to straighten itself by virtue of its own endwise expansive tendency said latter tongue o slips under its corresponding tongue d and the two members of the fastener assume their interlocked position, as illustrated in Fig. 3. The unlocking or unfastening of the device is effected in an obvious manner by the simple converse of these operations performed in the reverse order, the struck-up parts e facilitating the separation of the strips by permitting the easier introduction of the thumbs of the wearer therebetween.

It will be noticed that by reason of the peculiar interlocking devices (the springtongues) employed in our present invention when the fastener is closed the meeting faces of the two members A and B are constantly drawn snugly together and accidental unfastening is practically impossible.

We have described our improved fastener as applicable to the placket-openings of ladies skirts, and it has been designed more particularly with reference to use in that connection; but it is obvious that it might be applied with equal advantage to other articles of wear, as a fastener for gloves, coats, jackets, boots, the., and we do not wish to limit ourselves to its use in any particular relation. It may of course be made in a variety of sizes and weights to suit the articles to which itis to be applied, it being here noted that in the present drawings the thickness of the spring-strips A and B has necessarily been somewhat exaggerated in order to secure greater clearness in the illustration.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. As an article of manufacture, a fastener for plackets and similar openings in articles of wear comprising two separate thin flat strips of iiexible material adapted to be secured to the opposite sides of the opening, one of said strips being provided with a pair of inwardly-extending tongues, one on each end, and the other strip having a corresponding pair of outwardly-extending tongues, said tongues extending above and at an acute angle to the meeting faces of the strips, whereby said strips may be interlocked bybending the latter strip over the former until its tongues pass below the corresponding tongues of the former strip, and then allowing it to straighten itself by its own endwise expansive tendency, substantially as described.

2. As an article of manufacture, a fastener for plackets and similar openings in articles of wear comprising two separate thin fiat strips of flexible material adapted to be secured to the opposite sides of the opening, one of said strips having a pair of inwardlyextending tongues, one on each end, cut and raised from the material of the strip, and the other strip having a corresponding pair of outwardly-extending tongues similarlycut and raised from the material of the strip, said tongues extending at an acute angle to the meeting faces of the strips, whereby said strips may be interlocked by bending the latter strip over the former until its tongues pass below the corresponding tongues of the former strip, and then allowing it to straighten itself by its own endwise expansive tendency, substantially as described.

3. As an article of manufacture, a fastener for plackets and other openings comprising two separate thin flat strips of flexible material adapted to be secured to -the opposite sides of the opening, one of said strips being provided with a plurality of inwardly-extending tongues, and the other strip having a corresponding plurality of outwardly-extending tongues, said tongues extending above and at an acute angle to the meeting faces of the strips, whereby said strips may be interlocked by bending the latter strip over the former untilits tongues pass below the corresponding tongues of the former strip, and then allowing it to straighten itself by its own endwise expansive tendency, substantially as described.

In testimony that we claim the foregoing as our invention we have hereunto signed our names in the presence of two witnesses.

NELSON R. TAYLOR. WILLIAM C. ATWATER.

Witnesses:

J. K. LAMBERT, SAMUEL N. POND. 

